Marc Rattigan
Reform UK candidate who lost the Cliftonville KCC by-election on 9 April 2026 to Green Party's Rob Yates.
Last refreshed: 15 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Does Reform UK's Cliftonville defeat signal national vulnerability or just a local scandal effect?
Timeline for Marc Rattigan
Stood as Reform UK candidate and lost with 1,767 votes
UK Local Elections 2026: Greens flip Kent seat from Reform UKMentioned in: Reform Kent group falls from 57 to 47
UK Local Elections 2026Background
Marc Rattigan stood as the Reform UK candidate in the Cliftonville ward by-election for Kent County Council on 9 April 2026, receiving 1,767 votes (33.1%) against Green Party candidate Rob Yates's 2,068 (38.8%). The result was a net 26.7-point swing to the Greens on 37.69% turnout.
The Cliftonville by-election was Reform UK's first ballot-box test in a seat they had won at the May 2025 Kent County Council elections. The campaign attracted national figures: Reform's finance chief Robert Jenrick canvassed for Rattigan while former Green co-leader Caroline Lucas campaigned for Yates. Despite the national profile, Rattigan's vote share of 33.1% was lower than the Reform result that won the seat in 2025, reflecting the circumstances of the vacancy. The defeat continued a pattern of Reform UK losing councillors through attrition since the May 2025 landslide, with the KCC group falling from 57 to 47 seats before any new elections were held.